SINGAPORE — A 32-year-old man was on Thursday (June 13) sentenced to seven weeks’ jail for sending sexual messages to two children under the age of 14 when he was a student care teacher in a primary school.

The man, Tristan Teo Hong Xian, pleaded guilty in April to two charges of engaging in sexual communication with a minor and one of distributing an obscene image.

Another charge of distributing an obscene image was taken into consideration for sentencing.

His case was adjourned at the time to see if he would be suitable for a mandatory treatment order, which is a community sentencing option offered to offenders suffering from mental conditions that contributed to the offence.

On Thursday, District Judge Wong Peck said the fact that there were multiple victims, their young ages and Teo's abuse of his position of trust were aggravating factors in the case.

The children and the student care centre cannot be named under a court order to protect the identity of the victims.

CASE BACKGROUND

The court heard that Teo was working as a student care teacher in a primary school from April 2018 to February 2020. 

In the course of his work, he became acquainted with one of the victims, a boy, then aged 11, who was not in his class. 

In December 2019, Teo posted a picture of himself while on holiday in Japan. The boy was also on a holiday in Japan and added Teo on Instagram. 

The boy realised that Teo was a student care teacher at his school and they began communicating over Instagram. 

Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) R Arvindren said that the initial conversation between the accused and the second victim was non-sexual in nature.

Sometime in August 2020, the teacher began asking the boy about his private parts and told him that he wondered what they looked like as he was curious. 

Teo later admitted to the police that he wanted to "hold back" his sexual desires but eventually "gave in to the temptation", DPP Arvindren added. 

Around a year later, Teo got in contact with the second victim, a girl, then aged 13. She was also studying in the same school and was friends with the male victim. 

Teo communicated with the girl over Instagram and WhatsApp, and asked her to trade pictures of their private parts sometime between August and December in 2021. 

The girl declined to send a photo but Teo sent a one-time-view photo of his private parts to the victim. 

After a break of about 10 months, in June 2022, Teo asked the girl over WhatsApp if he could again send pictures of his private parts and if she remembered that he had previously spoken to her about his "horny problems". 

The girl replied to Teo that he should "stop letting your desires control you" and blocked him on June 13, 2022.

That same month, the girl created a second Instagram account under a fake identity and contacted Teo to gather evidence on how he had been sending sexual messages to her and her friend. 

He knew that the person behind the Instagram account was a minor under the age of 16 and engaged in sexual communication with the account holder, but did not know that the girl was behind the account. 

On June 22, 2022, a police report was made stating that Teo had sent photos of his private parts to two children. Court documents did not state who made this report or how Teo was arrested.

AUTISM DISORDER DIAGNOSIS

Defence lawyer Harjeet Kaur on Thursday asked for probation or a combination of a short detention order and a community service order to be considered for Teo, arguing that rehabilitation should be the primary consideration in Teo’s sentencing.

"While the offences committed are in no way submitted to be trivial, they are not so egregious that rehabilitation has been totally displaced," she argued.

Ms Kaur said that her client had been diagnosed with a major depressive disorder and autism spectrum disorder after the commission of the offences.

Referring to a medical report, she said that because Teo did not have the opportunity to undergo appropriate training and education for his condition, he was unable to form relationships with persons of his own age and could only form relationships with adolescents.

Ms Kaur argued that Teo’s condition would make him a “highly vulnerable” prisoner. The constant close contact with others would also “distress him severely” due to his hypersensitivity to touch.

She further argued that if rehabilitation was not at the forefront and that deterrence was the dominant sentencing consideration, she would want to seek a jail term of no more than three weeks and two days for her client. 

DPP Arvindren sought a jail term of seven to eight weeks. 

He outlined factors such as the victims’ vulnerability due to their age, Teo’s position as a teacher at the student care centre and the fact that he had repeated his acts to multiple victims.

In response to the defence’s arguments, DPP Arvindren emphasised that Teo had admitted to the police that he committed the offences because of his sexual desires.

This was further supported by the mandatory treatment order suitability report that found no contributory link between his condition and his offences.

He was also not impaired from appreciating the nature of his acts and their wrongfulness, DPP Arvindren added.

District Judge Wong said in her remarks that she agreed with the prosecution that a jail term is appropriate because the charges are serious ones.

“There is an abuse of trust, in that the accused in the present case is a student care teacher in the same school as these very young victims,” she added.

She also took into account the multiple victims involved and the findings in the mandatory treatment order suitability report.

For each count of engaging in sexual communication with a minor under the age of 14, Teo could have been jailed for up to three years or fined, or sentenced to both punishments. 

For distributing an obscene image, he could have been jailed not longer than three months or be fined, or both.